January - The first of two snowboarding holidays this season! Me, Jimmy Jakes, Snoop, Rob Riddell (headed over from Oz) and Rob C took Morzine\Avoriaz by storm! No dumps for many weeks but the conditions were generally good; although starting to get a bit icy and bare in places towards the end of the week. So we split the week up between shredding up both of the resorts, which were both near enough to the hotel via a short bus ride. Speaking of the hotel (Le Petit Cheval Blanc), it suited perfect! The location was a bit of a trek into Morzine itself for the bars etc (or rather more of a trek on the way back with extra beer inside to carry up the hill!), but the rooms were pretty good and the food was amazing! The usual continental breakfast was nothing to write home about, but the four course evening meal was top notch and had us all raving on about it!
So first to Avoriaz! We tackled quite a few runs, a good mixture of blues and reds, traversing over the French mountains and dipping into a few runs over on the Swiss side. A couple of the stand-out runs being one which we named "Abercrombie", simply because it was easier than trying to pronounce the actual French name which began with "A" and looked similar, which was a good lengthy run starting up at the split between France and Switzerland and running right down to the bottom where the usual lunchtime restaurant cluster was located. This was probably the best overall run, as we attempted it numerous times a day and got the top speeds overall. Proclou was a good varied run, under tunnels, right corners and a good fast run....often to Snoop's annoyance that I sped past him everytime ;-) Rob C hit disaster early on in the holiday though, after a bad landing down a blue run. Well, the landing didn't look too severe, but the extreme bruising all over his lower back was shocking!! Out of action for a few days...bummer!
Morzine was a great resort too, more tree-lined than Avoriaz and some good fast, varied runs. It was in Morzine where we also took the high red down from the top, with Jimmy snapping shots of us all coming down. Although he chose the accident blackspot of the whole resort! The number of people flying off the end and having bad landings was unbelievable. Stretchers were commonplace! We came away reasonably intact though!
So other than the boarding, the nightlife was limited to just a handful of bars, but served the purpose (they sold beer!). The Tuesday night was memorable and one of those times when everyone just clicked and wanted a heavy session! Jodica, the barmaid, was to blame though, with the free shots, which resulted in the standard beer rounds turning into rounds of 7-year Havana Rum! Great night :-)
A damn good week with some top notch boarding and night's out! Great resorts too with some excellent runs...just needed a good powder dump to make it perfect! Even so, i'd put this resort up there with the likes of Three Valleys!
So first to Avoriaz! We tackled quite a few runs, a good mixture of blues and reds, traversing over the French mountains and dipping into a few runs over on the Swiss side. A couple of the stand-out runs being one which we named "Abercrombie", simply because it was easier than trying to pronounce the actual French name which began with "A" and looked similar, which was a good lengthy run starting up at the split between France and Switzerland and running right down to the bottom where the usual lunchtime restaurant cluster was located. This was probably the best overall run, as we attempted it numerous times a day and got the top speeds overall. Proclou was a good varied run, under tunnels, right corners and a good fast run....often to Snoop's annoyance that I sped past him everytime ;-) Rob C hit disaster early on in the holiday though, after a bad landing down a blue run. Well, the landing didn't look too severe, but the extreme bruising all over his lower back was shocking!! Out of action for a few days...bummer!
Morzine was a great resort too, more tree-lined than Avoriaz and some good fast, varied runs. It was in Morzine where we also took the high red down from the top, with Jimmy snapping shots of us all coming down. Although he chose the accident blackspot of the whole resort! The number of people flying off the end and having bad landings was unbelievable. Stretchers were commonplace! We came away reasonably intact though!
So other than the boarding, the nightlife was limited to just a handful of bars, but served the purpose (they sold beer!). The Tuesday night was memorable and one of those times when everyone just clicked and wanted a heavy session! Jodica, the barmaid, was to blame though, with the free shots, which resulted in the standard beer rounds turning into rounds of 7-year Havana Rum! Great night :-)
A damn good week with some top notch boarding and night's out! Great resorts too with some excellent runs...just needed a good powder dump to make it perfect! Even so, i'd put this resort up there with the likes of Three Valleys!
